Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1947 Shepherd Neame MB

It’s a special day. As is every day I get my hands on a new set of brewing records. Especially when it’s a brewery whose beers I’ve supped.

And when I can combine the records with my post-war austerity obsession, I’m like a pig on a spit. No, pig in shit, that’s what I meant. (That image of me roasting a spit will now live with me forever.) Throw in a lovely watery Mild recipe and paradise is adjacent.

For the day, it’s a pretty honest recipe. Just pale malt, brewing sugar and malt extract. Plus the obligatory flaked barley of the late war years.

The sugar bill is slightly simplified. There was a bit of something that looked like WWCS. I just bumped up the No. 3.

1947 Shepherd Neame MB

pale malt

3.25 lb

59.09%

flaked barley

0.75 lb

13.64%

no. 3 sugar

0.75 lb

13.64%

malt extract

0.75 lb

13.64%

Fuggles 120 mins

0.50 oz

Goldings 30 mins

0.50 oz

OG

1027.1

FG

1005.5

ABV

2.86

Apparent
attenuation

79.70%

IBU

15

SRM

9

Mash at

156º F

Sparge at

170º F

Boil time

120 minutes

pitching temp

63º F

Yeast

Go to a Shepherd
Neame pub, buy a pint of cask beer. If it's nice and fresh, buy another pint
and surreptitiously pour it into a bottle, add a half teaspoon of sugar and
wait 3 days. Carefully decant most of the beer into a glass and drink. Add
malt extract and leave in a warm place for a few days.

Very excited about what you've found in Shepherd Neame brewing records. Thanks for putting this out. Will be brewing one of these soon, for sure.

We've tried brewing their beers many times, because they are hard to find and expensive Stateside. Never did get very close on the flavour, though, probably because we never had the correct yeast. It's frustrating because beers from Marstons, Fullers and Timothy Taylor, for example, we were able to nail with what we had to work with.

A friend (who doesn't like UK beer, so not much of a friend really) described the flavour we were failing to achieve as "tanniny," and "like tea." I guess that's not a bad way to describe it. Still, I wish we could close in on it a bit more...